News

Estonia weakened still further

ESTONIA, like Scotland, will not be going to Portugal this summer after they finished fourth in their Euro 2004 qualifying group behind Bulgaria, Croatia and Belgium. Instead, coach Arno Pijpers has been left with the task of trying to prepare his side for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, where the Baltic country are hoping to emulate neighbours Latvia in their achievement of qualifying for a major tournament.

It is not likely to happen. Estonia have been able to win against only Andorra, the Faroe Islands, Lithuania and Belarus in 10 years of qualifying matches. Pijpers faces a huge challenge to make an impact in the World Cup qualifiers, where they take on Portugal and Russia among others.

Pijpers knew about the circumstances when he took the job in November 2000. He has only 6,500 registered footballers to choose from, and against Scotland, his team will be hampered by a string